A Los Angeles-based nonprofit opened an early childhood center specifically for children whose families are seeking asylum in the United States. This center is one of the only places available where migrant children can play and learn for free.

Quick bursts of love pass through gate

Border Patrol Officers stand by as 7 year old Frida Villagomez, of San Diego, hugs her grandmother Yolanda Verona, of Tijuana, at an opening in the fence near the ocean, At far right is Enrique Morones, the founder/director of the Border Angels, the organization the arranged the event.

The sight of their mother for the first time in years moved two boys to fall to their knees after crossing into Mexico through the border fence at Friendship Park Sunday.

It was the first time they had seen each other since she was deported to Mexico while they were at school two years ago. They only had two minutes to spend with her as three other families were waiting to be reunited – briefly, but intensely – with loved ones.

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Albert Villagomez, of San Diego, holds his nephew Abel, 2, as they speak through the border fence near the ocean with Albert’s mother Yolanda Verona.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Enrique Morones, the founder/director of the Border Angels, stands with Border Patrol Officers as he speaks with people about to approach the border fence near the ocean to meet with loved ones in Mexico.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Robert Vivar, left, of Riveside, with his daughters Lelainah, 7, and Willow, hugs his father Robert Vivar, of Tijuana, as they meet for at the opening in the border fence near the ocean.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Hugo Alvarado, of San Diego, meets with his wife Guadalupe on the other side of the border fence Mexico. They’ve been separated for a year and a half.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Robert Vivar, left, of Riveside, stands by as his daughters Lelainah, 7, hugs his father Robert Vivar (senior), of Tijuana, as they meet at an opening in the border fence near the ocean.
(Charlie Neuman)

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7 year old Frida Villagomez, of San Diego, hugs her grandmother Yolanda Verona, of Tijuana, at an opening in the fence near the ocean.
(Charlie Neuman)

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At Borderfield State Park a State Parks employee opens the gate that leads to the beach area nearly mile away, where people will be allowed to meet with loved ones through the border fence.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Border Patrol Officers stand by a gate in the border fence near the ocean where people will soon be able to meet with loved ones of the other side of the fence in Mexico.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Father Dermot Rogers, a Catholic Priest, stands by as the gate in the border fence behind them is about to be opened for people to greet loved ones on opposite sides of the border.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Antonia Florencia, of Oaxaca, Mexico, speaks with family members through the border fence. Her son Maurilio Augustin and his wife Marisela and son Angel drove from Washington for the opportunity to meet with her.
(Charlie Neuman)

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At Borderfield State Park a lighthouse in Mexico towers over the border fence as people greet their loved ones on the other side of the fence.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Lourdes Barraza Torres, above, with her 2 year old daughter Reyna, hugs her son Alexis Lopez, 10, of Fresno, as they meet in an opening in the border fence near the ocean.
(Charlie Neuman)

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Antonia Florencia, of Oaxaca, Mexico, speaks with family members through the border fence. Her son Maurilio Augustin, at right, and his wife Marisela and son Angel drove from Washington for the opportunity to meet with her.
(Charlie Neuman)

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At the border fence near the ocean a Border Patrol Officer speaks with Maurilio Augustin and his wife Marisela and 2 year old son Angel who drove from Washington for the opportunity to meet with his mother Antonia Florencia, of Oaxaca, Mexico.
(Charlie Neuman)

“I felt nervous, but at the same time excited,” said Alexis Lopez, who was 8 when his mother was forced to move. “We talked about how life was without our mom. About how much we love each other.”

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It was the second time since the border fence went up in the mid-1990s that the rusty gate at Border Field State Park was opened to allow select families on either side to embrace. The event was part of a celebration of Children’s Day, which is a Mexican holiday that celebrates children and family. But it was also meant to draw attention to a “broken immigration system,” said Father Dermot Rodgers, one of the event’s organizers. The first gate opening was in 2013.

“This is about fixing an immigration system that separates children from their families,” he said.

Friendship Park, established in 1971 by First Lady Pat Nixon, used to be a place where friends and families from either side of the border could regularly meet. They could even pass things to each other through a chain-link fence. It became harder to congregate there when a steel fence went up in the 1990s, and the park was mostly closed off after more fencing was constructed in 2009.

The park was reopened on a limited basis several years ago, but because the fence had been reinforced with thick, steel mesh, touching was nearly impossible. Even seeing through it is difficult.

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During Sunday’s event, four families had just minutes each to embrace loved ones – some for the first time in years, like when Alexis and Giovanni Lopez hugged their mother, Lourdes Barraza Torres. She was sent to Mexico when some of her paperwork was not approved, she said through a friend.

“It’s only a couple of minutes, but that’s a whole world to somebody who had only been able to see (their family) through Skype, or the wall,” said Enrique Morones, the founder of Border Angels, who organized the event. “To finally put your arms around somebody and realize that love has no borders is very, very significant.”

Many of the families that participated were separated when relatives were deported to Mexico after living in the United States without documentation.

“Their only crime was coming here without documents,” Rodgers said. “Their children were born or raised here, for the most part. They’ve lived her successfully, contributing to the community... And then they’re summarily deported.”

It had been five years since 7-year-old Frida Villagomez, who lives in El Cajon, had hugged her grandmother. She wiped away tears and walked back into the United States after her two minutes were quickly over.

“(We talked about) how we’re going to get back together,” she said.

After crossing Frida pressed herself against the fence and tried to peer through the thick mesh, but she wasn’t able to see her grandmother after their greeting.

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“It’s sad because they can’t be together. There’s this wall and you can’t even see them properly. You can’t see anything,” said Paulina Villagomez, Frida’s aunt. “It’s supposed to keep the bad people out, not the good people out. That’s the way I see it.”

Frida’s grandmother, Yolanda Varona, is the leader of the Dreamers’ Moms USA Tijuana group, which champions immigration reform. She got involved with the group after she was deported in 2010. The nonprofit also serves as a second family to other deportees, and connects them to resources to assist their return.

Varona had moved to El Cajon in 1995 and lived there with her two children for more than a decade before she was returned to Mexico. She now lives in Tijuana.

“The main objective is for us to get back home soon,” she said in an interview last year. “Separating families causes so many aftereffects.”

Morones credited the U.S. Border Patrol for helping arrange the event.

He said by working together with the federal agency, he hopes to open the fence for families several times a year.

The 209th anniversary of the Grito de Independencia (Mexican Independence Day) will be celebrated Sunday and among the planned festivities in San Diego is the return of the traditional ceremony to the Mexican consulate after nearly 20 years.

A group of Honduran asylum seekers are building their own migrant shelter in Tijuana because they say there isn’t enough room for the thousands of Central Americans being returned to Mexico by the United States.